Channel Frederator Blog

Piotr Karwas

The very talented and busy Piotr Karwas stood still juuust long enough for Channel Frederator to get some pressing questions answered…

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Piotr Karwas: Polish National Film School and Filmakademie Baden Wuerttemberg in Germany.

CF: Who has influenced your work the most?

PK: I would say Brothers Quay and my teacher animation director Piotr Dumala.
Although at this point I feel like live action directors have more impact on my work.

CF: What is your favorite animation?

PK: I’m still very impressed with “Street of Crocodiles” by Brothers Quay.

CF: Any upcoming projects you can tell us about?

PK: I’m in post on live action short film “Rapline”.

CF: Robots vs. Zombies - who wins?

PK: Robots no doubt.

CF: Bunnies vs. Zombies?

PK: Bunny zombies would win.

CF: Nice.

Thank you, Piotr!

You can check out Piotr’s animation “Do Robots Dream of Bunnies?” in this week’s episode of Channel Frederator right here.

– Bailee DesRocher

Todd Ramsay

Todd Ramsay’s series, Honkbarn, is a musical monsterfest. Maybe because he had a babysitter most of us would would sell our own mothers for. Sorry, Mom. Read on…

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Todd Ramsay: I took 4 years of Fine Arts at Okanagan University College followed by the Classical Animation program at the Vancouver Film School.

CF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?

TR: My biggest influence over the years would have to be Jim Henson. As a child I loved everything he did, I never missed an episode of Fraggle Rock or Sesame Street. I was so into the Muppet Show that my parents would leave me in front of the television and go to the bar for an hour. I guess that would also make Jim Henson my babysitter.

CF: What are your favorite films/filmmakers?

TR: Some of my favorite filmmakers would have to be Don Hertzfeldt, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Nick Park, and [Read more…]

Maik Hempel

Maik Hempel’s animated infomercial “Petsicle” will solve all of your holiday pet-sitting problems. Plus, he gives us a little insight into why sometimes laughs outweigh style, and why a high SPF sunscreen is extremely important during an Australian Christmas.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Maik Hempel: After high school, I studied architecture for about one year, before I realised I should have stuck with my original choice of animation. So I slapped my lecturer in the mouth with a set square, traded my graphics pens for a peg bar and learned the astonishing art of the “moving-picture-bonanza” at Griffith Film School in Brisbane, Australia (“Bachelor of Animation with Honours” they call it)

CF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?

MH: Like everyone else at some point in their life, I was pretty amazed by
Disney, but the biggest influence animation-wise for me was Ren & Stimpy. I used to tape them and watch them [Read more…]

Animals abound in this week’s episode of Channel Frederator, featuring an eclectic mix of bunnies, robots, monsters… and frozen parakeets. Would we lie to you about that? We most certainly would not.

“Do Robots Dream of Bunnies?”, submitted by Piotr Karwas – Pink bunnies vs. little robots. Need we say more?

“Honkbarn: Episode 5”, submitted by Todd Ramsay – Musical monsters pose life’s most pressing question… “Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Petsicle”, submitted by Maik Hempel – Don’t worry about boarding your pet for vacation. Ever again.

You can watch this week’s episode of Channel Frederator through all the usual places, like iTunes, My Yahoo, Tivo, Miro, YouTube, MySpace, AOL, Google, Veoh, Pando, Bloglines, and, of course, at the Channel Frederator website. Or you can see watch right above, if you’re so inclined.